


Reflections

by AfricanDaisy, KayleeArafinwiel



Series: The Iathrim Chronicles [12]
Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Childhood, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Original Character(s), Sisters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-01
Updated: 2015-02-01
Packaged: 2018-03-10 02:00:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3272633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AfricanDaisy/pseuds/AfricanDaisy, https://archiveofourown.org/users/KayleeArafinwiel/pseuds/KayleeArafinwiel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neldiel watches and thinks and wishes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reflections

**Author's Note:**

> This is a bit of a nothing story, really! It doesn't have much of a plot, but it was the next chronological story on our timeline and it shows a bit of Neldiel's older sisters, who will appear more later in the series but haven't been seen much before now. At this point, Neldiel is the human equivalent of twelve.

Laughter and the sound of a bottle clinking against crystal drifted out of the bedroom, and Neldiel lingered in the doorway as she watched the beautiful ellith inside. They braided their hair with deft fingers, and pouted at each other in the mirror before dissolving into giggles that made the elfling smile. Her sisters never behaved like that when they knew she was near. They had long ago been tasked with setting a good example for their baby sister, and surely they must think that meant emulating their elegant mother or even their stately grandmother, for usually when Neldiel saw them laugh, it was softly, with their fingers placed delicately over their lips. She found that she didn’t mind. She was just glad that Miniel and Tadiel did in fact know how to enjoy themselves. It worried her sometimes that she was the only member of the household who did.

Her beloved big sisters were to attend some social gathering of apparently great importance at the palace, and Neldiel knew that they would be the most perfect ellith there – even if Princess Lúthien was in attendance, she thought, feeling only slightly disloyal to her adoptive aunt. She twirled a lock of dark hair around her finger, then unwound it and stuck it in her mouth, sucking idly as she watched the merry scene in the bedroom. Miniel, clad in a damson gown with gold embroidery, with a belt of golden links fastened snugly about her waist and a necklace set with an amethyst, was just a little taller than Tadiel in her pale gold and white gown with its silver scrollwork adorning the flowing sleeves. They both had the same glossy black hair and bright, lovely eyes – Miniel’s a very dark blue, whilst Tadiel’s were a gentler and softer twin to their father’s sea green eyes – and they each could boast lithe limbs and flawless curves that any ellon would love to get his hands on.

Not that twenty-eight year old Neldiel was meant to know about such things.

Jealousy was not becoming in a lady of such noble heritage, but the youngest of Lord Brandir’s daughters was envious of her sisters. She couldn’t help it. It wasn’t that she wanted to be invited to special parties or dance with ellyn. In fact, the idea of dancing with ellyn made her nose wrinkle. No, she didn’t care for those things at all. But she didn’t care for being such a little girl either, and it was that which made her covet what her sisters had. Or rather, what they did not have. There were no bedtimes for them, no lessons, no homework, no condescending pats on the head, no sharp _shhhhhs_ when they tried to talk during adult conversation. And, Neldiel would bet her second favourite doll, no corner time or line writing or the other thing, the worst thing, that happened when an elfling broke one of the many rules that grown ups needn’t worry about. She had said as much once to Miniel, but Miniel had just smiled faintly and made a _hmm_ sort of sound that Neldiel had taken for sympathetic agreement.

“Sweetling, would you like to come in?”

Her eldest sister’s voice drew her from her distracted musings, and she refocused her gaze in time to see Miniel carefully smoothing down her skirt as though she had twirled around and caught herself mid-spin. Pleased to have been noticed, Neldiel stepped into the bedroom and perched on the carved chest at the end of the bed. Previous forays into the chest had yielded silk slippers and scarves and woven belts and shawls, like a little treasure trove. “You both look so pretty,” she offered her sisters. “The ellyn will all want to dance with you and kiss you.”

Tadiel blushed faintly and looked down, but Miniel gave Neldiel a loving look. “I know it seems that your majority is forever away. But it isn’t, not really.”

“Twenty-two whole years, Min,” the elfling complained.

“Poor baby sister. Of course, that does seem like forever when you are just six years past that,” Miniel empathised. “It will fly by.”

Privately, Neldiel disagreed, but she knew her sister was trying to make her feel better. “It’s just me and Ada at home tonight. Is he happy? I want to go with you if he’s grumpy.”

“I should think he is in a perfectly pleasant mood, unless you have done something to get on his grumpy side. You haven’t, have you?” Miniel’s blue eyes sparkled in amusement, but she rolled them skywards as the elfling paused. “Oh no, Neldiel…you haven’t?”

“She’s stopped to give your question proper consideration,” Tadiel said drily. “Neldiel, you really shouldn’t have to think about it. You should just know.”

“Oh, I know I wasn’t naughty,” Neldiel concluded, after another moment or two of careful thought. “But if I _had_ been naughty and I couldn’t remember it, then it wouldn’t have happened.”

“You’re unbelievable, Nelli,” Tadiel muttered under her breath, as Miniel stifled laughter.

“I trust you will make no trouble for your father tonight, iel-laes,” said a new voice from the doorway, and Neldiel turned her head to see her mother standing there. Lady Siliveth wore a dark gown with little pearls studded across the gold embroidered bodice, a gold choker around her slim neck, onyx and gold earrings that dangled from her ears and shimmered in the light, and a fondly exasperated expression as she regarded her youngest child.

With so much pressure on her to be a good girl all the time, it was no wonder Neldiel found trouble so often. She cocked her head slightly, thinking about that. Surely that must mean it was never really her fault. Interesting, she reflected. Still, that was something she would have to file away for future pondering, because her mother was waiting. “I’ll be good, Nana,” she promised dismissively. “Nana, I said to Miniel and Tadiel that they look so very pretty that all the ellyn will want to dance with them.”

Siliveth smiled slightly as she glided into the room, and she patted her daughter’s head with a manicured hand. She didn’t notice the slight grimace that it drew from Neldiel. “One day, you will be old enough to accompany us, but for now you must concentrate on your good behaviour. If your father has a pleasing report for me when I get home, I shall take you to be fitted for a new gown tomorrow. Uncle Baralin’s Begetting Day is soon, and your Daernaneth Halloth would like to hold another garden party for him. The last one was, on the whole, a success. This one will be too, assuming Baralin turns up.”

That last comment was under Siliveth’s breath, but Neldiel heard it well enough and bit her lip to suppress a grin. Her mother’s younger brother spent more time out of Doriath than in it. He was currently travelling somewhere to the east, but nobody knew anything more than that, and none of the family had any idea when he would deign to come back and visit. Despite being the most absent of her uncles, Baralin was Neldiel’s favourite. She hoped that he would be home in time for his party; she always loved seeing the looks on his arrogant big brothers’ faces when he enthused about the exotic places he had seen and the strange people he had met. Neldiel even made a silent vow that if Baralin did get home in time, she wouldn’t push Cousin Míradan into the pond again.

“We’ll be going now, iel-nín,” Siliveth said, interrupting Neldiel’s thoughts as she leaned down to kiss her cheek. “You will be abed when we get home. Sleep well, with sweet dreams.”

Some time later, after Neldiel had stood at the window to quietly watch her mother and sisters get into the carriage that was waiting for them, she returned to her own bedroom and took out her drawing book, charcoal, and box of colours. She sat on her bed with her back against the plump pillows, and began to sketch. Art was her special thing, something just for her. Tadiel only ever managed to draw stick people – she could get rather touchy about it if pushed far enough – and Miniel could draw flowers and cats but only with her eyes narrowed to a squint. Neldiel enjoyed having a talent that she didn’t have to share with her sisters, no matter how much she loved them. The chest at the end of her bed was full of paints and inks and brushes and paper, and a smaller box that held the artwork she hadn’t even gifted to her family because it was for her eyes only.

She took out a lovely deep purple, and began colouring Miniel’s gown, shading from the hem upwards. As she reached the wide sleeves and paused to get her gold colour, she sent a fleeting look in the direction of her writing desk, where her as yet unfinished homework lay. Oh, she knew she ought to set her drawing aside to be finished another day, otherwise she’d know all about it when she gave the rushed homework to her tutor – who happened to be her father. And yet, she would love to show her mother and big sisters the picture she had done of them, and earn their smiles and pride. She shrugged and returned to her art, ending the internal debate. She would worry about her scolding when it was happening. For now, she had more pleasant things to attend to.

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
